I'll Meet You By The Third Pyramid
by ALC Punk
Summary: Rick and Evelyn O'Connell deal with life at their first dig together.


Disclaimer: Rick and Evelyn O'Connell, and Jonathon do not belong to me. No money is being made. And no profit, except my own amusement.  
  
Notes: I am not an archaeologist. I have grave doubts that any of the following pertains to the real field at all. But it was hella fun to write. It's set after the first movie, but way before the second. The title is from the B52's 'Mesopotamia'  
  
PG13  
  
Dedication: This one's for Lynx, who prodded for it, then beat me over the head and witheld spam until it was finished.  
  
I'll Meet You By The Third Pyramid  
  
by Ana Lyssie Cotton  
  
"Okay. Stand like this."  
  
"Like this?"  
  
"Right. Now, bring your hands up--not directly in front of your face."  
  
"Like this?"  
  
"Exactly. Now. Hit me."  
  
"Hit you? Don't be silly."  
  
"C'mon, Evie, hit me."  
  
"But--"  
  
"You wanted to learn this, remember?"  
  
"All right. Fine." Evelyn O'Connell straightened her shoulders, bent her knees, and swung at her husband. He dodged easily, then caught her wrist and pulled her close. She had such trouble resisting him. Really.  
  
A kiss was her forfeit, then he set her back and took up his stance again.  
  
"Now. Pretend I'm a punching bag."  
  
She chuckled, but complied. This time her balled fist glanced off his shoulder.  
  
"What are you aiming for?"  
  
"Um. Your shoulder?"  
  
"Aim for my neck." He pointed at the strong sun-bronzed column that topped the open white shirt.  
  
"Right."  
  
This time she almost hit him, but he dodged. "Good."  
  
"Good?"  
  
"Now, aim for my nose."  
  
"Right." With relish she drew back then let fly a punch that would have probably broken his nose if he hadn't blocked it in time. She didn't hesitate, but let her other fist uppercut into his jaw.  
  
Rick gave a yelp, "Hey."  
  
"Well, this doesn't seem that hard." She grinned, "Just like chess, you have to think three moves ahead."  
  
"Yeah." He rubbed his jaw and grinned, "Now we just have to work on your defense."  
  
"All right." She said, agreeably.  
  
Just as they were moving back into position, the telephone rang. It would have seemed an incongruous sound in the middle of a gymnasium. This wasn't one. It was, in fact, a tent. The floor was sand and carpets, the ceiling a yellowish canvas heated by the sun. The phoneline had been run at rather a large expense from the nearest lines. Rick let Evie answer it, since the line had been her idea.  
  
The tent had been, too. He grimaced. He wasn't particularly fond of the desert, but his new wife adored it and intended to spend all of her days--and all of his, too--in it searching for lost treasure. Treasure was good. Sand was not.  
  
Since she was still in the good graces of the Baimbridge Scholars, they had been given their pick of archeaological sites. He hoped she'd chosen a good one.  
  
If it had been up to him they would have spent months on some Mediterranian beach with no one and nothing to bother them. Instead. The desert.  
  
"That was Jonathon. He said to tell you hello."  
  
"Oh, good. Did you tell him I hoped he wasn't feeling well?"  
  
She placed her hands on her hips and glared, "You don't like my brother much, do you."  
  
"Wellll... There's the part where he stole something of mine, and I then went to jail."  
  
"But that box was what brought me to you!"  
  
"True. So, I guess I did get some good out of it." He leered at her, "Now. More fighting, or shall we try something less strenuous but much more enjoyable?"  
  
Evelyn blushed, "Don't be silly, it's only mid-afternoon."  
  
"So?"  
  
"Rick O'Connell, there are plenty of very good excavation hours left in the day!" As she was saying this exasperatedly, he'd come closer and wrapped his arms around her. Now he leaned closer, staring deeply into her eyes. And Evelyn suddenly decided that the digging wasn't very important. "Well... I guess they can wait."  
  
"Good." His lips closed on hers.  
  
--  
  
The next day, after another self-defense lesson, the O'Connells were inspecting a cave. It was the sort of cave all dig sites are required to have. Slightly shallow, sandstone floor--but dry, as if the river that had once run through it was not only long gone, but had never actually run there....  
  
Evie carried a lantern, Rick carried a pistol. It was his educated and well-considered opinion that a gun was much more useful than a lantern. Especially if you might end up facing tomb thieves.  
  
As they neared the back of the cave, Evelyn paused to look at the walls. "Rick. I think there might be something here."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Look at the way this rock seems almost carved. Here," She pointed to one thin straight line. " And then here, again. Almost..."  
  
"Like a door."  
  
"Yes. Here." She thrust the lantern at him and began feeling the rock face. "There must be some sort of opening mechanism somewhere."  
  
Rick stepped back, holding the lantern high. There was a thin crack high up in the wall, completely the look of a door. "Maybe it opened from the inside," he suggested after she'd spent a fruitless several minutes poking and prodding and generally getting her fingers covered in rock dust.  
  
"Don't be silly. They had to come back in after going out."  
  
"Maybe they just walked through the wall."  
  
"Then why is there a door?"  
  
He chuckled at this piece of logic and leaned back against the other side of the cave. At this point, it was almost a corridor, really. Square-cut ceilings, smooth floor. He blinked. "Evie."  
  
"Hrm?"  
  
"The floor and ceiling are smoothed out."  
  
She glanced at him, then up at the ceiling. "They must have hand-chiseled it. Rick..."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"If they chiseled it out and smoothed the floor, it must have been for something special."  
  
"And that would mean?"  
  
"Well... Treasure, possibly. Someone high up in the class system. Not just anyone, really." She looked at the wall and hissed. "Stupid door."  
  
"We could try blasting it."  
  
"That would destroy anything beyond it." she admonished. "Besides, it might bring the roof down."  
  
"And bury us with it. Bad idea." Ever since they'd almost been caught in the dead city of Hammunaptra, he was a little wary of things trying to trap him underground. Evelyn seemed to not even think about things like that, though. Fearless and ready to do anything--including learn to defend herself. He shook his head. How had he lucked into a woman like this?  
  
She was standing, her head tilted to the side her eyes dark with thoughts he couldn't read yet. Someday, maybe. But right now it was a mystery to him what she was always thinking. Well, almost always, he remembered with a slight leer.  
  
"Of course!" Evelyn stepped to the side of the door and looked up and down the cave. "I think, that if this were for someone important, they wouldn't have opened the door for themself. And, therefore--"  
  
"Someone else would do it." He guessed.  
  
"Exactly."  
  
With a decisive nod, she pulled the lantern from his grasp and stepped further down the corridor. "If there were someone in front of them, they'd need to be far enough in front so as not to give offence. But close enough to know when the right time was..."  
  
He followed her, watching the walls for anything that crawled. Snakes or bugs would be irritating. Not that SHE noticed them anymore than she had trouble looking at rotting corpses and decayed skeletons...  
  
About six feet down the corridor, there was a soft alcove to the right. A slowly eroding shelf must have been where the acolyte sat. Evie slid into the seat and pondered the wall in front of her. "Right-handed, but you'd be watching...." Her hands slid over the stone, searching. "Got it!"  
  
A soft click echoed through the cave.  
  
It was followed by a grating sound, then a loud whump. Rick followed Evelyn back towards the 'door'. It had opened inwards, thudding against the wall there. Another corridor stretched out before them, apparently leading towards something. He studied the walls, "Evie, what about traps?"  
  
She didn't seem to have heard him as she gazed happily at the inscriptions on the walls. They were covered with the usual assortment of warnings and curses. Not that Evie didn't believe in curses--anyone who had nearly been a human sacfrifice for a 2000 year old mummy isn't about to not believe in them. But they wouldn't apply to her. After all, there was no reason to think that anything they uncovered *here* would be detrimental to their health.  
  
"This is the tomb of someone great. Possibly a Pharoah, but I doubt it." She hrmed, "Maybe one of their high priests."  
  
"Wouldn't that increase the likelihood of traps?"  
  
"Traps?" She stepped forward and turned to blink at Rick. "What--"  
  
Her foot shifted in the dust, and she stumbled, catching herself against the wall. There was a series of clicks.  
  
"Damn." Rick threw himself forward, knocking her to the ground as something flew across the corridor at waist-height. It clanged against the opposite wall, and was echoed by the main door grinding closed.  
  
The lantern hit the ground and fared less well.  
  
Darkness fell.  
  
Evelyn tried to decide if it was more comfortable lying in the sand and dust with her husband sprawled on top of her--and cold digging into her back--or standing up, with the possibility of losing ones torso. "Um, Rick..."  
  
"Yes, Evelyn?"  
  
He didn't sound happy.  
  
"Do you think you might move a little bit?"  
  
"Feeling trapped?"  
  
"Well, I'm sure there's a release on this side of the door."  
  
"Why, so the dead could walk about on their own two feet?"  
  
But he moved, sliding off of her and leaving her shivering slightly from the cold stone. She decided to sit up and ignore his stupid question. Besides, it wasn't all her fault.  
  
The wall was equally cold, but less dusty. She felt carefully above her head, searching for whatever had sliced across the corridor.  
  
"It's on this side."  
  
"Oh." She reached out a foot and encountered his legs. "You don't have any matches, do you?"  
  
"No. Do you?"  
  
"I didn't think to bring any..."  
  
"Well, we can just sit here in the dark and wait for whatever ghouls there are to come get us, then."  
  
She kicked him. "Do you have your pistol with you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good." She carefully moved towards where she thought the tomb entrance was, feeling as she did for glass and metal. A piece of glass sliced into her finger, first. She hissed, then brought the afflicted hand up to suck on the wound while continuing the search with her other. A moment later, she touched one of the metal supports, and grabbed onto it. There was still oil in it, luckily. She could tell by the weight.  
  
After turning it upright, she poked Rick. "Give me your gun."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I'm going to use the firing spark to relight the lantern."  
  
Her husband was silent for a moment. Then he snorted. "Give me the lantern."  
  
"It's MY idea."  
  
"Yes. And you'll probably shoot me, too."  
  
"My aim isn't that bad." She protested. Not that she had much experience with guns. But she could still aim to miss.  
  
He snorted, but handed over the pistol. She felt along the barrel, pulling up the hammer. Then she positioned it carefully over the wick of the lamp, aiming away into the darkness.  
  
The gunshot was loud in the stillness. The bullet ricocheted off the far end, then appeared to disappear. A spark lit the wick, and Evelyn was careful not to make any sudden movements as it took hold, then began glowing steadily.  
  
Rick was sitting across from her, just under what appeared to be a huge round blade of some sort. It was half-buried in the wall, probably due to there being a receiving slot for it. Dust coated both of them, grey and yellowish in the lamplight. She looked at her finger and decided the cut wasn't that bad.  
  
The hieroglyphics glittered in the light, calling to the eye. With a careful check of what she was sitting on, she moved to a kneeling position, and studied them.  
  
Meanwhile, Rick was studying the blade that had nearly chopped them in half as well as glaring at the door. After a few minutes of this, he turned back to his wife, "Well?"  
  
"I'm sorry, but there's no mention about levers for the door--or other traps."  
  
"Damn." He glared at her, "This is all your fault. If you'd just listened--"  
  
"Look here, Mr. O'Connell," she snapped, "If you hadn't distracted me, I never would have fallen and pressed the right spot on the wall."  
  
"So I'm Mr. now, huh?"  
  
"Yes." She huffed, then chuckled. "Dear, it's not my fault I'm insatiably curious. Besides, we've got a wonderful opportunity here."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Well, we're alive, and we can look at a tomb no one else has."  
  
"What about other people who would have found the door?"  
  
"Most wouldn't have figured out the release."  
  
"And those who did?"  
  
"Died, I think." She glanced down at the dust, "This might even be some of them, for all we know."  
  
He carefully moved to his feet as quickly as he could--without hitting anything that would trigger another death-wielding device. "Really."  
  
"Well, if all the traps are as good as this one, they either got chopped up, or ran out of water and food."  
  
"Speaking of water and food..."  
  
Evelyn stood as carefully as he had, and studied the walls. "We should be fine. I believe there's a way out through the tomb."  
  
"What makes you think that?"  
  
"The lack of bodies in here?" She pondered, "And there's air. A draft, of sorts."  
  
"The tomb it is, then."  
  
"Be careful," she admonished as he strode down the tunnel. She followed with the lantern held high. They both stepped softly and lightly as they moved, hoping to avoid any other trigger mechanisms.  
  
As the light illuminated further, they began to see there was a turn in the corridor. Rick guessed from the angle that it led further under the ground. As he got closer, he pulled out his pistol. Always be prepared was a very good motto to follow. Especially since there were frequently things (or people) hiding round corners.  
  
Without touching the wall, he paused, then stepped slowly around the corner. Evie followed, the lantern held high to light the next passage. She'd been wrong about previous visitors.  
  
There were at least ten skeletons. Most were in more than one piece, which made it difficult to tell whether there were more or not. A few still had tatters of clothing and flesh on them. But the blood had long since dried into nothing.  
  
A soft gasp came from Evelyn, and he looked back at her. "You ok?"  
  
"Yes... Rick, this is almost as good as a treasure trove. People, from different times, different periods..." She bent over the nearest, which still had a bit of clothing. "Look at this. It can't be much older than a few hundred years." She looked up at him. "We must get back to the surface. All of them need to be recorded and analyzed."  
  
"We can do that. But not until after we get out of here."  
  
She straightened and looked down the corridor. There was a door at the end. It was seperated into four panels. They appeared to have carvings on them, but with the distance and light it was difficult to tell. "Do you think they tripped all of them?"  
  
"I doubt it."  
  
"Well, if we're very careful..."  
  
"We could go back, check the walls again."  
  
"No. I think the chances of tripping another trap are too great." She sighed, "We're just going to have to hold our breaths."  
  
"I'll go first."  
  
"You get all the fun."  
  
"Well, you set off the last one." He pointed out, hiding a grin as her eyes flashed amber sparks at him.  
  
"Yes, and that was your fault, remember?"  
  
"I refuse to accept that."  
  
"Irritating man."  
  
He stepped towards her, "But you love me anyway."  
  
"As if I had a choice," she replied with a sniff.  
  
"You know, if I'm going to die in the next few minutes..."  
  
She narrowed her eyes at him as he stepped closer. "Yes?"  
  
"I think I deserve a kiss."  
  
"You do, do you?" She chuckled and wrapped her arms around him. "I think *I* deserve a kiss."  
  
"Then we agree."  
  
Silence fell for several lifetimes. At least, that's what it felt like, poetically enough. The silence was broken by the scraping that came from behind them. From back around the corner. They broke apart, Rick pulling out his gun as Evelyn held the lantern in one hand and gripped his arm with the other.  
  
The scraping sound became more discernible as a sort of shambling movement. Like the sound of something not quite alive walking. Rick really didn't want to look around the corner. He'd already faced way too many mummies for one lifetime. Let someone else do it.  
  
He peered around the corner, the lantern light reaching feebly to illuminate...nothing.  
  
"Well?" Evie asked impatiently.  
  
"There isn't anything there."  
  
"But we can hear it!"  
  
"Can we?" He listened intently. The sound had disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.  
  
She frowned, "It was there."  
  
"Yeah." He looked around the corner once more, then nodded, "I think I know why all the skeletons are here."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They didn't want to face whatever that was, so they went down here, in the dark."  
  
"And all hit one of the triggers--do you think they all hadn't a lantern or torch?"  
  
He shrugged, "If they did, I don't see them in the dust here. Just a bunch of bones."  
  
"You're right." She grinned, "This means we should be able to make it there without triggering any of the traps."  
  
"Don't get too cocky, Evie."  
  
"I know. There might be some that aren't detectable in the light. But that doesn't mean we'll trip them."  
  
Rick tucked his pistol away and held out a hand for the lantern. She relinquished it, then tucked a hand into the back of his vest. He stepped forward, carefully placing his foot next to the ribcage of the first victim. The second step took him further. He carefully tested the dusty stones with a toe before settling any weight on them. The third step was the hardest. That was completely new territory, and might contain a trigger. And if he had to dive for cover, there would be some unpleasantness with the scattered bones.  
  
The fourth step was made in complete silence. Then the fifth, and so on. By the time he'd counted twenty steps, they were nearly at the paneled doors. This close, they were obviously divided into four equally-sized mural panels. Delicate carvings had worn only slightly, their beauty undiminished in the lantern light.  
  
A last skeleton lay between them and the door. He studied its position, then carefully stepped in-between its legs.  
  
"Rick, the door--we'll have to open it without triggering anything."  
  
"If it's like the other one, won't the catch be somewhere before it?"  
  
Evelyn stared at the walls around her, trying to quickly decipher what she could. "I... I think so. Give me the lantern, please."  
  
He did, standing calmly and waiting as she shuffled around looking for clues, for ideas. She had worked her way halfway back up the corridor before she found what she was looking for. "Rick, back up from the door."  
  
While he did that, she prepared herself for what might be a trap.  
  
"Evie, if anything happens--"  
  
"I love you, Rick O'Connell." She said, then pressed the square of stone.  
  
--  
  
Evelyn O'Connell held her breath as the small square slid into its niche. If this was the right one, if she wasn't missing something in the translation of ancient times to now, this was the switch that would let them into the sanctuary of the tomb. And, if it wasn't, it might kill one or both of them.  
  
A creak echoed through the tunnel, followed by the grating sound produced by the movement of stone on stone. The door moved inwards.  
  
Evelyn released her breath with a squeak. "It worked!"  
  
"Yeah." Rick carefully stepped into the dark opening now revealed. She followed him, carefully stepping over the last of the skeletons.  
  
The interior of the inner sanctum was dominated by a sarcophagus that sat in the center of the floor. Surrounding it were all sorts of interesting looking artefacts. Canopis jars, medallions of gold and silver, statues of various Gods in every metal possible, and many other things.  
  
Cobwebs decorated corners of the room and they waved in a sudden breeze. She didn't have time to check on that, there was so much to look at. Statues, and wall-coverings and the sarcophagus itself.  
  
For a moment, a shiver went down her spine as she recalled that the last sarcophagi she'd seen had contained an evil Mummy. Of course, it had been her own fault he came back from the dead.  
  
"Evie, you don't think it might be a good idea to watch for other triggers, do you?"  
  
"Why would they need them in here?" She turned, gazing happily around herself, "And only a few people would have been right about the inscriptions out there."  
  
"You being one of them."  
  
"Of course." She moved to the raised platform and gazed at it, lips moving silently as she began reading the hieroglyphics. "Listen to this--this is the High Priest of the Temple of Anubis in Cairo--or what will be Cairo." She grinned at Rick, "He was probably the most high-ranking of them all. No wonder he was buried in such splendour."  
  
"Good." Rick looked around, trying to gauge the amount of money this would make the both of them. Not that they needed much, but a sweet little nest egg would be good for future investments. "So..."  
  
"Hrm?" She looked up from the statue she'd been studying. Her eyes were cutely unfocussed with a scholar's delight.  
  
"How much do you think we'll earn from this?"  
  
"Earn?" She blinked, "Rick, we're not selling these. We're studying them. There's no question of money--in fact, since we were given this site to investigate, I don't think we have any right to them at all."  
  
"Even though we may not come out of this alive?" He demanded caustically.  
  
"Well... I guess that might make a difference." She chuckled, "Not every day one of the Baimbridge Scholars risks life and limb for a few artefacts, I'd bet."  
  
"No. But, honey, I think we deserve something, don't you?"  
  
"Rick. You're not suggesting--"  
  
"I'm not suggesting anything, I just think we deserve some sort of recompense for all the trouble we've gone through."  
  
"We don't even know if we can get out yet!"  
  
"Well, what about that draft you felt?"  
  
Evelyn sighed and left the shiny things behind, walking back to the door and holding out a hand. "Let's see if I can find it again." After a few moments, she turned back to him, exasperated, "Look, you--" She froze, studying the cobwebs in one corner. "Rick. That corner."  
  
He quickly went over there, careful not to step on anything that might break. The cobwebs in this corner seemed slightly thicker than the others and he grimaced as he reached up and moved them aside. There was a small hole in the wall. At chest-height, it was big enough for two fingers. He looked at it, then looked back at Evie, "My turn, I think."  
  
"But--"  
  
Her objection was ignored as he pressed his fingers through, touching stone. It gave slightly. He pushed harder, listening intently. There was a click as it moved again. As if something was settling against something else. He frowned and turned back to Evelyn, "It doesn't work."  
  
"Actually, Rick, I rather think it did." She had moved to the center of the room, where the lid to the sarcophagus had cracked open down the center. "This is interesting."  
  
He gave a disappointed sigh and moved to her side, absently wrapping an arm around her as he looked into the coffin. "I thought it would open a door."  
  
"I know, dear." She slid her arm around him and leaned into him. "I thought it would, too."   
  
They stood thus for a few moments, then she looked up at him, "Maybe that wasn't the right spot? Maybe the airflow came from somewhere else."  
  
"No, it was the right spot. I know it was, all right, 'cause the airflow stopped as I pushed the stone."  
  
Evelyn stiffened under his arm. "It stopped?"  
  
"Yeah, it..." His voice trailed off as the full meaning of what she was saying penetrated. "We're not going to get anymore fresh air."  
  
"No, I don't understand, though. The door--"  
  
"Is not open anymore. Damn."   
  
Rick strode away from her agitatedly, narrowly missing three ceramic Anubisi, and a small jade cat. He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid.   
  
"Look, it's not your fault--I'd've pressed the button myself." She pointed out.  
  
"Yeah. But then I wouldn't be blaming me." It was a poor choice of words, he knew it as soon as he uttered them.  
  
"Oh, so this is all *my* fault. Yes, I see." Evelyn crossed her arms and turned away from him. "Well. You can bloody well find a way out of it, then. *I'm* going to start cataloguing these pieces."  
  
--  
  
Evelyn sighed as she blew dust and cobwebs off yet another statue of Anubis. It wasn't that she thought that she really had time and air to waste on the catalogue. It was that she had faith that she and Rick could get out of any tight situation. It would just take time, that was all. And it was better for both of them if they didn't argue. Especially since, if he continued blaming her, she was going to end up coshing him over the head with one of these statues of Anubis.  
  
Of course, it was just like him to blame her. He never did *any*thing wrong. Oh, no. Not the great Rick O'Connell. Evelyn shook her head, trying to get her husband out of her mind. It didn't work. She continued mentally ranting at him as she sorted through statue after statue.  
  
There were close to 40 statues of Anubis she decided as she finished one section of the room.  
  
As she started on the second, she sensed Rick moving around the chamber. He seemed restless, but she still wasn't willing to talk to him.   
  
Several minutes later, he was standing near her.  
  
"Evie? Honey?"  
  
"What is it?" She asked without looking up.  
  
"Do you think you could help me get these cobwebs off?"  
  
She blinked, then looked up at him. And burst out laughing. Her husband had apparently walked into a great many of them, and was now almost grey with cobweb. He appeared not to find it at all funny as he wriggled, trying to get the sticky stuff off. It just spread itself more, becomming more firmly attached.  
  
"Here. Stand still, Rick." She commanded, standing and going to his aid.  
  
"Yes, dear." He replied meekly, then spoiled it by adding, "Hurry up, please."  
  
Evelyn walked around him, studying the webs, then stopped at his back. "Rick?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Don't move." She turned away and began searching through the available materials for something she could use.   
  
"Why not?"  
  
"You don't want to startle it," she said absently, discovering a hand-sized flat rock.  
  
"Disturb what?"  
  
"The spider."  
  
"Honey? What spider?"  
  
She crept closer to him, watching it watch her. It was about the size of her fist, and a darkly matte black. It had been in the webs, and come down with them--Evelyn had a feeling it had probably created some of the ones he was wearing. She stopped as she got within touching distance and took careful aim.  
  
"OW!" He spun around and glared at her while she studied the stone. "What was that for?"  
  
She held it up, letting the light catch the still moving pieces of spider. He blinked, then looked down at the cobwebs. "Oh my God!" He turned away from her, frantically pulling at the webs. "Get 'em off me, Evie!"  
  
"Stand still, and I will." She snapped, dropping the rock. She reached down and pulled her bootknife out then began sawing at the edges of the webbing. It very quickly began sticking to her, too. Rick didn't help matters by twisting and turning in an attempt to get out of the trap he'd got himself in.   
  
Evelyn prodded him with a finger. "Stop moving, you're only making it worse."  
  
"But what if there're more spiders, Evie?" He wriggled one arm free and began pulling at more webbing. "I really don't want one of those things to drain me of my blood."  
  
"They drain all the bodily fluids," She murmured, removing a strand of web from her own arm.  
  
"Great. Just great. How many more do you think there are?"  
  
"I haven't a clue."  
  
--  
  
They had rid Rick of most of the webbing, but strands still remained here and there. Similarly, Evie had gotten some on her legs and in her hair. She surveyed the ruin of her favorite trousers with irritation. "Rick, do--"  
  
A sound came from outside the chamber, and both looked towards the door, expectantly.  
  
Rumblings echoed through the chamber--much as they had through the corridor earlier--and the door swung inward. Footsteps came to them, accompanied by a stronger light than their dying lantern.   
  
"Rick? Evie? Are you in there--of course you are." A cheeky grin was on the face of the man who stood in the doorway. "You would be around the treasure, now wouldn't you." He looked at the room and the grin widened.  
  
"Jonathon!" Evelyn dashed across the room and hugged her brother. "I've never been so happy to see you. Oh. Sorry, I've gotten spiderweb on you."  
  
"That's all right."  
  
"Jonathon, please tell me you didn't close the door to the passage out there." Rick begged as he followed Evie.  
  
"Nope. Once I found the opening mechanism I set several stones in the opening to keep it from shutting." Jonathon began leading the way back up the passage. "I thought you two would be down here."  
  
"Yes, Jonathon, where did you come from?" Evelyn asked.  
  
"I came down for a visit. The dig master said you hadn't been seen since you came into the cave, so I investigated." He shot a grin back at them. "Good thing, too."  
  
"Thank you, Jonathon. I owe you one."  
  
"Really?" Avarice glittered in the man's eyes as he looked back at Rick. "I'll hold you to that, see if I don't."  
  
"Jonathon!" Evie poked her brother. "Don't be stupid."  
  
"Well... All right, then, forty percent of the take for this dig."  
  
"We're not getting paid for it, Jonathon. Or didn't Evie mention that to you last time you chatted?"  
  
"Not getting paid? Whyever not?"  
  
"Well, the Scholars thought that, since they knew this was a good site, we should just get experience here." Evelyn explained.   
  
Jonathon stopped in the cave, looking back at them through the door, "Oh, Evie..."  
  
"Well, it was the best I could do--under the circumstances." She shrugged and stepped over the threshold. "I did lose them Hammenaptra, after all."  
  
"That wasn't your fault, though," Rick pointed out as he followed them, stooping to move the stones blocking the door from closing. "Now, shouldn't we close this?"  
  
"Yes. The mechanism should be in the same area as the other one."  
  
"It is," Jonathon confirmed. "I'll go push it now."  
  
"And we'll get someone posted here to watch the door," Rick decided.  
  
"Good. And then I'm going to get paper, pen and ink and start writing down descriptions of what was there."  
  
"Actually," Jonathon said as he came up to them, "I think you two ought to take a bath, first. I don't mind telling you, you look like you've been rolled down a hill and dragged backwards through several thornbushes."  
  
"Oh." Evelyn looked at Rick speculatively. "I guess we could take a bath..."  
  
"Definitely." He said. "And you can scrub my back."  
  
She blushed, "And I'll scrub yours."  
  
Jonathon looked at the two and grinned.  
  
--  
  
A few months later...  
  
The Cairo Bazaar was bustling with activity. People hawked their wares in loud, carrying voices so that overlapping waves of sound would hit the unwary traveller. Some stood in booths, others plied the streets with every trinket imaginable on their backs. One booth sat in a darkened corner, surrounded by few, though those visitors were invariably of higher Quality than the normal denizen.  
  
If Evelyn O'Connell had been anywhere near the booth, she might have been immediately suspicious. But, as it was, she wasn't.  
  
Small statues of Anubis were crowded around a small replica of a sarcophagus. The statues glinted with the sheen of gold, the paint still bright on it even this far away from the sunlight. The statues were selling very well, the owner of the booth reflected as he negligently rubbed a scratchmark off one boot.  
  
In fact, if Jonathon was any judge, he'd be ahead by quite a bit at the end of the day. And that visit to the French Riviera was sounding better and better. At least there he wouldn't be constantly bothered by bugs.  
  
-finis- 


End file.
